• Registered to the first of just three owners on the 30 November 1949
• Headlights under a mesh grille is a characteristic of early Land Rovers
• The early Series 1 80-inch Land Rover was fitted with a 1.6-litre side-plate petrol engine
• Restored in the early 2000s and finished in the correct shade of Bronze Green on the original chassis, now galvanised
• Featuring the correct pull-ring gearbox and a new bulkhead was fitted at the time of the restoration
• Presented to auction in good order with an odometer reading of 2,125 miles that has naturally gone “round the clock”

In the aftermath of World War Two, Rover's chief engineer Maurice Wilks used a "demobbed' Willys Jeep around his farm in Anglesey and was impressed with its abilities. Eventually, it wore out and he was keen to replace it with a British vehicle, however, nothing remotely similar was available. Coincidentally, his brother Spencer, who was Managing Director at Rover, had reached the same conclusion as he struggled to get his Rover 10 to reach the more inaccessible parts of his estate on Islay. It was whilst the brothers were on holiday on their North Wales farm together, that the plan was hatched to produce a light agricultural utility vehicle in the style of Maurice's, fondly remembered, Jeep. They would have no idea that Maurice's resulting design would become an icon and launch a whole new industry sector. The vehicle appeared as the 'Land Rover' in 1948, and proved so popular with the military and the farming fraternity that demand massively outstripped supply. It had an 80 inch wheelbase and a sturdy box section ladder-frame chassis and the open back arrangement with three seats in the front was undoubtedly influenced by the design of the Jeep.
 
As an engineering marvel it can still outstrip its modern counterparts, and the Series I rightly belongs in the Motoring Hall of Fame. Hugely successful globally, dozens of improvements were made throughout the long production run. The 'Holy Grail' for any Land Rover enthusiast is an early Series I identifiable by a number of visual clues including the headlights being behind the grille, no exterior door handles and a ‘side plate' engine.
 
Initially registered on the 30th November 1949 to the first of just three owners, we are told by our vendor, a Land Rover fanatic, that the previous owner had known this Series 1 from new. In the early 2000s, it was restored over the original chassis which was shot-blasted and galvanised, a new bulkhead fitted and finished in the correct shade of Bronze Green. Such was the quality of the restoration that, in 2007, it was featured in the Land Rover Series 1 Club magazine ‘Legend’. Very few pre-1950 Land Rovers have survived, and fewer still have the period correct 1.6-litre ‘side-plate’ petrol engine and pull-ring gearbox still fitted.
 
If we were to compare this Land Rover with an E-Type, it would be akin to the rare and desirable 'flat floor' and whilst we acknowledge that both offer different driving experiences, and values, they are an equal in historical importance. Finished in Deep Bronze Green with a new canvas ‘tilt’ and freshly serviced, it's ready for family jaunts and offered at a very keen estimate.